


Greatest Gift of a Lifetime

by serial_reader7



Category: The Umbrella Academy (Comics), The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: 2019 Vanya, Alternate Universe - No Sparrow Academy (Umbrella Academy), Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Future Fic, Inspired by The Umbrella Academy, LGBT, Lesbian Vanya Hargreeves, Love, Normal 2019 Timeline, Old Sissy, POV Vanya Hargreeves, The Umbrella Academy (TV) Season 2 Spoilers, The Umbrella Academy (TV) Spoilers, Vanya Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Vanya Hargreeves-centric, Vanya goes to find Sissy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:41:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25814485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serial_reader7/pseuds/serial_reader7
Summary: When the Hargreeves arrive back in the 2019 timeline, Vanya can't stop thinking about Sissy and Harlan. She wants to find them, but she's afraid of what she might discover. Either way, Sissy did tell her that if she could find a safe way back to her, she should take it.
Relationships: Vanya Hargreeves/Sissy
Comments: 24
Kudos: 311





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The idea of Vanya going to find Sissy hasn't left my head since I finished season 2 of the Umbrella Academy. This story is set in a timeline where the Sparrow Academy doesn't exist and the 2019 timeline was restored to normal.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vanya knew she was going to miss Sissy, but she still wasn't prepared for how much it hurt.

As the Hargreeves siblings prepared to warp back into the future, all Vanya could think about was Sissy and Harlan. She had watched Sissy’s car drive away until the vehicle faded into the distance, her tears falling onto the dust between her feet. Deep down, she knew that Sissy was right. Her and Harlan didn’t belong in 2019. As much as Vanya wanted to believe that jumping 56 years was a practical plan, it would be nearly impossible for Sissy and Harlan to ever become properly situated. They would be better off in California, no matter how much Vanya’s brain screamed that she should be there to protect them. Carl was gone, and they could now find peace. 

Vanya hugged her arms around her chest, wishing it was Sissy’s embrace that she was wrapped in. She had never felt closer to another person. After being interrogated by the FBI and remembering her past, she had realized that she had never truly felt love for Leonard. He was just the first person to treat her as more than a shadow, and she craved the attention she had lacked for so long. With Sissy, there was genuine warmth. Her kisses were fireworks and her hugs were home. It was the first time she had ever fallen in love. 

It was Klaus that broke her out of her trance by placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. He didn’t say a word, which was arguably the most unusual occurrence of the day. The two siblings stood side by side for a moment, and Vanya knew that Klaus was feeling the same mixture of anger, frustration, and helplessness that was coursing through her own veins. They didn’t get a fairytale happy ending with their loves. It just wasn’t meant to be. 

Vanya wiped the last of the tears from her eyes and turned around with Klaus. “How painfully cheesy of us,” she grimaced. 

“You took the words right from my mouth, dear sister,” Klaus chuckled half-heartedly. “Like I said, the Hargreeves family and love just doesn’t work out.”

Vanya nodded, her hands clenched into fists at her sides. All she could think of was Sissy’s smile and how much her heart was aching. It felt as if a part of her had been ripped from her chest. It was the most raw, excruciating pain she had ever experienced. Worse than being electrocuted, worse than the blunt hit with the end of a rifle, worse than being confined to isolation by her siblings. She could feel the energy building in her stomach, and she so desperately wanted to release a shockwave that would free her of this burden. But she took a deep breath and looked around at the farm that had become so familiar over the month since she had dropped into 1963. Being hit with Sissy’s car was truly the best thing to ever happen to her. 

“Come on,” Klaus said. “Let’s go join the rest of this trainwreck of a family.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More filler. Klaus helps out his troubled sister.

Vanya was sitting with Diego when it was time for the siblings to leave. Each of the six Hargreeves siblings looked exhausted and apprehensive as they joined in a circle, and Vanya held her breath while the briefcase crackled with energy. As she felt her soul being tugged towards the briefcase, she opened her eyes and looked at the night sky, the same that she had gazed upon with Sissy as they shared a cigarette. Then, before she knew it, the world around her collapsed, and she was back in the Umbrella Academy. 

She spent the rest of that night drinking, trying to distract her mind from the thoughts of Sissy and Harlan and where they could be right now. Were either of them even alive? She knew that Sissy was in her mid-thirties and Harlan was eight, so that would make Sissy in her early nineties and Harlan in his sixties. The thought of either of them being dead caused bile to crawl up the back of her throat, and she left her glass of whiskey half-finished on the table before rushing upstairs to her old bedroom, hand over her mouth and hot tears pushing behind her eyes. 

She tried to fall asleep early, but her brain wouldn’t relent, and she was left tossing and turning. If Harlan was alive, was he speaking? People were much more knowledgeable about autism in 2019 than 1963, so she hoped that he was at least understood now. He had been through so much at just eleven years old that he deserved a smooth adolescence and adulthood. 

Vanya shook her head into her pillow. She knew better than anyone that life was anything but fair. Her heart felt as though it was trying to claw its way out of her chest, and her head refused to give up cycling through the memories that Vanya had created with Sissy in the short time they had spent together on the Cooper farm. She hated feeling this way. 

It was 2:34 in the morning when Vanya finally gave up on sleep and marched to Klaus’ room. She shook her brother awake, breaking his snores. 

“Vanya?” he murmured sleepily.

“Klaus, I need your help,” Vanya stated urgently.

Klaus groaned. “Can’t it wait until the morning?”

“Please, Klaus,” Vanya begged. 

Her brother must have sensed the desperation in her tone, for he begrudgingly propped himself up on an elbow and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. “What’s going on?”

Vanya sighed, feeling more foolish by the second. “I can’t stop thinking about Sissy, and what could have happened to her,” she admitted. “Would you be able to see if you could find her? I know that it’s much easier said than done, but I can’t sleep not knowing where she is.” 

Klaus laughed softly. “Dear sister, you have got it bad,” he smiled, tapping a finger to his chin. “But I’m not much better. What’s her full name?” he asked, shifting to properly sit on the bed and motioning for Vanya to join him.

“Sissy Cooper,” Vanya said hoarsely. There were so many knots in her stomach, tied with uncertainty, so tight that she felt nauseous. Her breaths quickened as she once again tried to comprehend the thought of Sissy no longer being alive. However, as much as she wanted to dissolve into anxiety, she had to stay present with Klaus. She had to know. She steeled herself, swallowing her “what ifs” and infinite questions. 

Klaus took a deep breath. “You’re lucky I’m sober,” he joked. Then he closed his eyes. 

For no particular reason, Vanya did the same. As she did, she could see Harlan, terrified, in the middle of a swirling vortex that he couldn’t control. She remembered the day she had spoken to Sissy about her having to leave the farm, Harlan running away, and Vanya finding him in a lake, lifeless. She remembered her hurricane of thoughts in that moment, and how nothing, nothing was going to stop her from saving the young boy’s life. Both times she had to save Harlan using her powers, though it was undeniable that his life was altered forever. Vanya knew that Harlan must have already felt like an outcast with so few people willing to understand his autism. She wondered if she had permanently erased his chance at having a normal life, and a shiver ran through her body. 

“Vanya,” Klaus said, causing her eyes to snap open. 

Vanya twisted her hands in her lap. “Did...did you find her?”

“No,” Klaus answered, shaking his head slightly. “She’s not dead.”

Upon hearing those words, Vanya felt as though her chest was going to burst open. Her fear of Sissy being dead was replaced by a new wave of emotion, but this was excitement. Sissy was alive. She could see her again. Vanya had to put a hand on Klaus’ bed to steady herself, for her spinning mind was making her dizzy. “Do you know where she is?”

Klaus smiled. “Southern California. I talked to her mother, who has been watching over her and her son since she died. She told me where to find them.” With that, Klaus grabbed a loose sheet of paper and a pen from his bedside table and scrawled out an address. 

Vanya could barely hold back from snatching the paper from Klaus’ fingers. Her body felt like it was on fire, every nerve electrified. This was her ticket to seeing Sissy and Harlan again. This was her chance to reunite with the family she had left in 1963. With the woman who had unlocked her heart and the boy who had shown her that her power was not always deadly. They had never treated her like an unstable bomb. 

“Thank you, Klaus,” Vanya choked out, her voice thick with emotion. She couldn’t help but fling her arms around her brother. No matter how ridiculous and lazy he could be sometimes, he had always been in her corner. 

When Vanya pulled back from the hug, Klaus winked at her. “Go get your girl,” he quipped.

Vanya grinned and left the room, running her fingers over the paper as if that would imprint the address in her mind. She would leave in the morning. She was going to find the woman she loved.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The moment you've all been waiting for!

Vanya could hardly eat breakfast due to the energy surging throughout her body. This time, the energy wasn’t negative, and it wasn’t dangerous. It was pure excitement, lighting up every fiber of her being. Sissy was alive, and she was going to find her today. 

She managed a few bites, simply so she wouldn’t be exhausted later in the day, before finding Five. With his teleportation abilities, he was her way to reach Sissy as quickly as possible. She knew the jump was extremely large, but Five had only ever botched his calculations when traveling through time. She trusted him to make the leap to California. 

Five reluctantly agreed to take her, muttering something about how he had just started to relax. Vanya couldn’t blame his hesitation; the boy had dedicated the last two weeks of his life to saving the world from doomsday, namely, her. She was extremely grateful that he was even giving her the time of day. 

The siblings moved into the living room, and Five instructed Vanya to hold onto his hand. 

“Ready?” Five questioned, a determined expression on his face.

Vanya nodded, squeezing her eyes shut as she was yanked from the Umbrella Academy to Southern California. She slowly let her eyelids flutter open, and she found herself back on a farm very similar to the one that the Coopers had previously owned, if a bit smaller. Vanya inhaled deeply, smelling the fresh air, and the corners of her mouth tugged upwards. She felt so safe in this atmosphere. 

“Text me when you need to jump back,” Five stated before disappearing back to the Umbrella Academy. 

Vanya swallowed, turning her gaze to the simple yet charming house in front of her. It was exactly the kind of place Sissy had left behind, where Vanya knew Sissy felt the happiest. A warm feeling enveloped Vanya. She had worried that she uprooted and disturbed Sissy’s life for good, but she hoped that Sissy had been able to find some solace on this farm. 

Her feet were heavy as she tried to walk towards the front door of the house, and her hand shook when she reached out to grab the door’s handle. No matter how much she tried to imagine what she would face in this house, it wouldn’t be enough to prepare her for reality. She had to come to terms with the fact that Sissy would not look the same as she did in 1963. She would be frail, and her hair would no longer be the soft blonde that it once was. It was going to be jarring. 

Vanya bit her lip, mustering up her courage. She opened the door, and stepped into the house. The inside of the house was quiet. Vanya glanced around, but there was no one in the kitchen or living room. She reasoned that an elderly woman would most likely be in a bedroom on the first floor, so she carefully began to walk down one of the hallways towards what appeared to be a bedroom. The door to this room was cracked open, and Vanya could hear someone’s gentle breathing. 

Her heart was racing, her thoughts swirling in her mind like a tornado. All she could do was cautiously open the door to reveal an elderly woman laying in a bed with baby pink sheets covering her body. She was looking out the window, facing away from Vanya. Vanya’s breath caught in her throat, her body was hot and cold at the same time, and her mind couldn’t form a single coherent thought. 

“You’re home early, Harlan,” she mused, still looking out the window at the fields that seemed to stretch for miles. 

Vanya had to force her mouth to move. Her tongue felt much too big and her head felt cloudy. “Sissy,” she managed, though it wasn’t much above a whisper. 

The woman turned, her brow furrowed in confusion. When she locked eyes with Vanya, her mouth fell open, and her eyes filled with tears. “Vanya?”

Vanya’s airway felt like it was blocked off and she also couldn’t hold back from crying. Sissy’s hair was slightly shorter than it had been in 1963, now a shade of silver. Her face was creased with lines that marked her aging process. Still, her eyes were the same bright blue that Vanya remembered, and she found herself drowning in those irises. Her emotions upon seeing Sissy like this were too complex to sort through. All she could register was relief that the woman she had fallen in love with was alive and well. 

“How did you get here?” Sissy asked, teardrops spilling down her face. 

“I couldn’t stand not knowing what happened to you,” Vanya confessed, looking down at the ground. “My siblings helped me find you.”

“Vanya,” Sissy said delicately, as if her name was sacred. She extended a slender arm, beckoning for the young woman to move closer. “Come here, silly,” she said, her features breaking into a wide smile. 

All it took was that simple gesture to shatter Vanya’s barriers, and the brunette rushed to Sissy’s side, lacing her fingers with her outstretched hand. She was grinning as well, and her heart swelled as she felt Sissy’s palm against her own. She recalled the day that Sissy had asked to see her hands, and had attempted to read her palm to find clues into her past. Her touch had been so tender, and it was the first time that Vanya truly began to see Sissy in a different light. 

“I missed you so much,” Sissy divulged. “I never stopped thinking about you. I just couldn’t let you go.” She squeezed Vanya’s hand. “I can’t thank you enough for what you did for me and Harlan.”

Vanya shook her head. “Didn’t I turn your life upside down? Everything was normal before I came around.” 

“Vanya, you saved me. You were a companion to my son. You showed me that I don’t have to settle for less than I deserve. It was because of you that I had the chance to be happy. If you hadn’t opened my eyes, I would still be stuck in the agonizing cycle of my life with Carl,” Sissy stated earnestly. Her other hand came to rest softly on Vanya’s cheek, her thumb rubbing back and forth across her skin, swiping some of her tears away. “You set me free, Vanya,”

Vanya leaned into Sissy’s cradling hand. “You saved me too,” she responded. “You risked a lot by taking a stranger into your house, and without you, I don’t know where I would have ended up.”

Sissy brushed a piece of Vanya’s hair behind her ear. “The best risk I ever took,” she whispered. 

Suddenly, the door creaked behind Vanya, and she whipped around. Standing in the doorway was a tall man in a suit, carrying a violin case in one hand. The man had glasses that accented his attentive eyes. He paused upon seeing Vanya, looking back and forth between her and Sissy several times. 

“Look who came to visit, Harlan,” Sissy said, her voice brimming with excitement. 

Vanya could barely believe her eyes. “Harlan?” Never did she imagine the young boy she left behind looking so grown up. 

Harlan’s eyes widened, and he quickly set his violin case down before wrapping Vanya in a hug. 

Vanya was startled by this, as Harlan had never been one for physical contact. After a few moments of confusion, she reciprocated, holding Harlan tightly. He was, without a doubt, the most extraordinary boy Vanya had ever met. He was wordlessly expressive and cared for his mother with an unmatched ferocity. At just eleven years old, he had taught Vanya so much about the different ways to communicate and make connections. 

“He missed you almost as much as I did,” Sissy said. “You even inspired a new passion of his.”

Harlan pulled away from the hug, eagerly nodding and gesturing to the violin case at his feet. 

Vanya’s heart was so warm as she gazed at the excited expression on Harlan’s face. Perhaps she hadn’t destroyed his life nearly as much as she thought she did. “How long have you been playing?” 

Harlan stretched out his hands to indicate that it had been a long time.

“Since he was thirteen,” Sissy translated, pride ringing in her tone. “He found a job playing in an orchestra in the city, and that’s been his second home ever since he started working. We found that music is the easiest way to calm him down when he’s having an episode, and he wouldn’t hush about getting a violin after learning that you played as well.” 

“That’s amazing, Harlan,” Vanya said. “I’m so glad you found something that makes you happy.” 

Sissy motioned her son over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Harlan has taken care of me for a little while now, ever since my old bones have started to wear out. Vanya, you might have competition for the best nanny.” Sissy smirked over at the brunette, who laughed and joined Sissy at the end of the bed again. 

“I’d happily give the title to Harlan,” Vanya shrugged, amused. 

Harlan smiled. He then gestured to the hallway, communicating that he was going to leave the room. He picked up his violin case as he headed out, closing the bedroom door behind him. 

“He’s so grown up,” Vanya commented, taking Sissy’s hand once more. 

“Isn’t he?” Sissy agreed. “Thank you for making him feel seen.” 

“Thank you for hitting me with your car,” Vanya replied. 

Sissy chuckled. “Of course.” She was quiet for a moment before speaking again. “You know, before we knew that you were connected to Harlan, he was also being electrocuted while you were being interrogated by the FBI. When he opened his eyes, they were the same icy color that your eyes became when I watched you fly above the field. He spoke his first and only word: your name.” She paused. “Carl was furious. He ran out of the house with Harlan, shouting that he was going to put him in an institution. He had Harlan in the back seat and was about to drive away when I came out of the house with the shotgun. I finally stood up to him. And I told him…” she stopped mid-sentence. 

“Told him what?” Vanya asked, squeezing Sissy’s hand reassuringly. 

Sissy locked her gaze with Vanya’s. “That I loved you,” she confessed. “You showed me the most genuine love I’ve ever experienced. I never stopped loving you, Vanya. It was so hard to leave you, because in another life, we would be able to run away together and be a little family, and we could find our happy ending with each other. It’s so unfair.”

“Hey,” Vanya said gently, clasping her other hand on top of Sissy’s. “I love you too.” It was the first time those words had left her mouth in a romantic sense, and the first time she fully believed the meaning behind them. “And who says this isn’t our happy ending? It isn’t perfect, but I’m here now. I’m with you. And I don’t have to leave you ever again. I could stay here. The world isn’t in danger anymore, Sissy, so we could live out our fantasy. Maybe not exactly as we planned, but it’s still us and Harlan.” 

Sissy’s face was streaked with tears. “I would love that,” she choked out. 

Vanya pushed back Sissy’s hair and leaned forward, kissing her forehead tenderly. “Okay,” she said, her face glowing with joy. “Let me get my stuff from my house, and I’ll be back here before you know it.” She turned to walk out the door.

“Wait!” Sissy called out. 

Vanya swiveled back around. “Yeah?”

“Thank you for being the kind of girl you miss,” Sissy said.

And in that moment, Vanya realized that all of those newspaper ads and missing person reports had led up to her finding her home right here, with the very people that had caused her to lose her memory. She had been found.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for this short little story! I hope you guys enjoyed reading. I can't wait for season 3!


End file.
